ATOM_TYPE.md

Atom Type (elixir.types.Atom)

Reflaxe.Elixir provides elixir.types.Atom as a type-safe, zero-cost way to represent Elixir atoms in Haxe.

What It Is

• Atom is an abstract Atom(String) that compiles to an Elixir atom (e.g. :ok), not a string.
• Use it to make intent explicit and prevent accidentally passing "ok" where an atom is required.

Reference implementation: std/elixir/types/Atom.hx.

When To Use Atom

• Elixir APIs that accept atoms for options: :temporary_assigns, :compress, etc.
• Result/status atoms: :ok, :error, :noreply, :stop.
• Enum-like option sets, best modeled as enum abstract over Atom.

Basic Usage

import elixir.types.Atom;

var ok: Atom = "ok";        // generates :ok
var error: Atom = "error";  // generates :error

Compiles to:

ok = :ok
error = :error

Enum Abstract Pattern

Prefer an enum abstract over Atom when the API takes a fixed set of atoms.

import elixir.types.Atom;

enum abstract TimeUnit(Atom) to Atom {
  var Second = "second";
  var Millisecond = "millisecond";
  var Microsecond = "microsecond";
}

Compiles to atom values consumed by Elixir APIs, for example:

:second
:millisecond
:microsecond

Safety Notes (Important)

• Atoms are not garbage-collected on the BEAM.
• Do not create atoms from untrusted or unbounded user input.
• Prefer strings for user-provided keys and values, and only use Atom for known, finite sets.